Ann McCallum Books - A Review

Homework has never tasted SO GOOD!

I have a confession to make.  We haven't been using a set math curriculum.  *GASP*  I know!  I have to admit that with all of my planning for this school year I just couldn't settle on a plan for math in our homeschool.  Curriculum?  No curriculum?  Online?  Real life?  How on earth will these children learn their fractions and how to make change?  It will come.  This I do know.  In the meantime we are enjoying our extremely eclectic approach to math this year.  So, what better resource than Eat Your Math Homework by Ann McCallum Books?  We're really getting into this whole literature based approach to learning, and it's just the perfect resource for us right now.  What better way to learn math than to eat it?

Eat Your Math Homework takes learning math in the kitchen to a whole new level.  We're not just baking cookies and casually learning fractions and adding.  Not that there is a lick wrong with that.  We still do it.  We always will.  However, within the pages of this fun book with its cute illustrations you will find complete lessons.  How far you take them is fully up to you, but the foundation is well laid, and with the downloadable Teacher's Guide you can really pull off an awesome lesson that the kids will be talking about long after their delicious snack has disappeared.

One fun lesson that we really enjoyed was Fibonnaci Snack Sticks: Research.  The longer I homeschool along with my children the more I love history.  It is still sad for me to think about how much I missed out on over the years due to the fact that  I hated history so much in high school.  It's fascinating!  That may be at least part of the reason I liked this lesson so much.  There was history involved.   I think it's important for children to make the connection between subjects, and this lesson is a wonderful blend of history, math, and art.  We got to explore, aka research, and learn just who this Fibonnaci guy was anyway.  We enjoyed learning about his discovery and exploring the pattern ourselves.  We continue to look for Fibonnaci patterns in nature as well as exploring online resources to build on the lesson.

Annabella skewering bananas to form her pattern.

I think Avery is a tad pleased with his pattern.

Included in the book are lessons solving sequences, looking at nature, vocabulary, and more.  Each lesson provides you with a list of needed supplies so you can easily plan ahead.  We have found that for the most part we already have everything we need on hand.  The activities are simple and very easy for the kids to be hands-on.  I have to say using this book has been one of the easiest things we've done this year.  What I love about it is that there is such a huge payout for my little effort.  What homeschooling mom wouldn't love that?  We love Eat Your Math Homework so much that we also plan to eat our science homework and our U.S. history homework thanks to the other two publications by Ann McCullum Books in this series.  

We may not have a solid plan in place for math this year, but we certainly are having a lot of fun with the subject thanks in great part to this fabulously fun and imaginative book!